Kickstand

What Kickstand does

Kickstand LLC is a privately held boutique creative and advertising agency founded in 2014 in Dallas, Texas, by Matt Bull (Creative Director) and Bo Bartlett (Chief Technologist), with Noel Ramos as Senior Art Director. It positions itself as the antithesis of a large agency network, describing operations as 'about as far from the big agency experience as it gets' and emphasizing lean execution that 'finds the gaps in the audience's armor.' Functional services span brand strategy, visual identity and design, video production, digital marketing, custom web development, and cause marketing — with the founders' distinguishing philosophy offering clients either 'unabashed ridiculousness or unabashed heart.'

The client base is horizontal rather than vertical-specialized, drawing from video game publishers (Gearbox Publishing across Penn & Teller VR, We Happy Few, Bulletstorm, Godfall, Homeworld Mobile), healthcare (Ted's Brain Science Products, Methodist Hospital, UT Southwestern), consumer brands (Baby Magic, Emergy), and nonprofits (Drop in the Bucket's South Sudan cholera-prevention campaign, Coalition For A New Dallas). The technical layer is founder-driven rather than platformized: Bo Bartlett contributes coding, backend development, and prior experience building social media platforms and managing Federal Judiciary applications, allowing the agency to deliver fully bespoke digital experiences rather than templated work. Industry recognition includes two Clio Awards, Gold/Silver/Judges Choice Addys (2018), an Emmy Award, DesignRush featured-agency status, and sustained AdWeek coverage, signaling above-boutique-tier creative output.

Kickstand operates a project-based professional services model, with no public pricing and no intermediaries — engagements are initiated through a website contact form and scoped per project. Headcount remains in the 1–10 range and the firm shows no evidence of external institutional investment, acquisitions, or geographic expansion beyond the Dallas headquarters at 1300 South Polk Street, Suite 295-A. Marketing channels are dominated by earned media (AdWeek, Dallas Innovates, shots.net), awards submissions, the agency blog, and organic social (Instagram, Twitter/X, Facebook, LinkedIn), with co-founder Matt Bull supplementing visibility via podcast appearances.

Name

Kickstand

Legal name

Kickstand LLC

Website

https://heykickstand.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Kickstand is a privately held Dallas-based boutique creative agency (1–10 employees) founded in 2014 that provides brand strategy, video production, design, digital marketing, and cause-marketing services to clients across gaming, healthcare, consumer products, and nonprofit sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Dallas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Creative Agency Services: Kickstand earns revenue through client engagements for creative services including brand design, video production, digital marketing campaigns, cause marketing, and custom web development. Services span across branding, video, digital, and custom development for brands ranging from video game publishers to healthcare products.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Kickstand is a small Dallas-based creative advertising agency that provides brand strategy, brand design, video production, digital marketing, custom web development, and cause marketing campaigns for clients. The agency pairs its creative output with a distinctive philosophy of "unabashed ridiculousness or unabashed heart," often combining entertainment value with purpose-driven messaging tied to social good.

Product overview

Kickstand is a small advertising agency offering creative advertising services rather than a traditional SaaS product. Their service portfolio includes brand strategy, design, video production, digital marketing, web development, and cause marketing campaigns. They work with clients across video games (Gearbox Publishing), healthcare (Ted's Brain Science Products, Methodist Hospital), baby products (Baby Magic), nonprofits (Drop in the Bucket, Serve Houston), and various other sectors. The agency's core offering centers on creative campaigns that combine 'unabashed ridiculousness or unabashed heart' with a focus on authentic cause marketing and social good.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Creative Advertising Services Kickstand's core offering encompasses brand strategy, brand design, video production, digital marketing, custom web development, and cause marketing campaigns delivered as professional services to client brands. The agency's approach combines 'unabashed ridiculousness or unabashed heart' with a focus on cause marketing and social good campaigns. Services are tailored for brands across video games, healthcare, consumer products, and nonprofits.

Quantifiable outcome

• 21% donation rate for Soap for South Sudan viral campaign
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Gearbox PublishingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGearbox Publishing is a key client partner for Kickstand, commissioning multiple creative campaigns including Penn & Teller VR, We Happy Few, and Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition. Kickstand developed award-winning cause campaigns and traditional advertising for Gearbox titles.
• Drop in the BucketcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDrop in the Bucket, a water well charity operating in East Africa, partnered with Kickstand for the Soap for South Sudan campaign during the South Sudanese refugee crisis. Kickstand created the campaign copy and website, which achieved a 21% donation rate and helped prevent a predicted cholera outbreak.
• Baby MagiccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBaby Magic partnered with Kickstand for multiple campaigns including the 'Dads in the Making' 65th anniversary campaign and 'Dads Are Magic Too' cause campaign. Kickstand helped reposition Baby Magic's brand photography to give fathers equal billing.
• Ted's Brain Science ProductscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKickstand developed the full brand identity for Ted's Pain Cream — naming the product, designing the logo and packaging, producing video ads (including the award-winning 'My Name is Greg'), building a custom website, and creating a cause campaign (neuroscience scholarship). This was a comprehensive branding engagement from product naming through digital marketing.
• National Fatherhood InitiativeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKickstand connected Baby Magic with the National Fatherhood Initiative for the Dads Are Magic Too campaign, creating a video celebrating fathers' involvement in their babies' lives.
• UT SouthwesternminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMatt Bull has worked with UT Southwestern on brand strategy to help the healthcare institution set itself apart from lesser brands.
• UNICEF / WHOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDrop in the Bucket was tasked by UNICEF to gather soap to prevent a cholera outbreak during the South Sudanese refugee crisis. Kickstand's Soap for South Sudan campaign supported this effort, contributing to outcomes that kept the predicted death toll to 22 versus the anticipated 50,000.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Eleven Inc. San Francisco-based independent creative agency focused on challenger and purpose-led brands. Comparable boutique positioning and emphasis on helping brands connect through meaningful, cause-adjacent storytelling.
• The Richards Group: Long-standing independent Dallas-based creative agency serving major national brands. Most directly comparable peer given shared geography, independent ownership, and full-service creative offering for mid-market and enterprise clients.
• GSD&M: Austin/Dallas-based independent creative agency known for bold work and cause-driven campaigns. Comparable as a Texas-rooted independent shop with a similar emphasis on creativity-led brand building.
• Mother Design: Boutique creative studio under Mother New York, known for bold, idea-driven work across brand, digital, and content. Directly comparable as a small, senior-talent-led independent competing on creativity rather than scale.
• Anomaly: Independent creative agency with a reputation for unconventional, idea-first campaigns. Comparable boutique-to-mid-size model built around senior creative talent rather than agency-of-record scale.
• 72andSunny: Independent creative agency with strong purpose-driven and brand entertainment work. Comparable ethos of pairing cultural relevance with cause-driven creative for ambitious brands.
• Pereira O'Dell: Independent creative agency with integrated brand, digital, and film capabilities. Comparable independent, founder-driven model producing award-winning work for major consumer brands.

Regional players

• Preacher: Austin-based boutique creative agency with a similar small-team, bold-creative positioning. Regional peer serving comparable mid-market and challenger brand clients in the same Texas market corridor.

Broad incumbents

• Wieden+Kennedy: Larger independent creative agency with a long track record of award-winning, culture-shaping campaigns. Shares the independent, creativity-first DNA and similar disregard for conventional agency formulas, though at significantly greater scale.
• Droga5: Now part of Accenture Song, Droga5 remains known for bold, award-winning creative across brand and digital. Shares Kickstand's creativity-first philosophy but operates at a fundamentally larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/heykickstand
• Facebookfacebook.com/heykickstand
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/heykickstand
• Instagraminstagram.com/heykickstand

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kickstand